Wishing Everyone a Good and Meaningful Labor Day!
September 4th, 2026 - Labor Day, the first Monday in September in North America, celebrates the power the labor movement has when working people come together. There are Labor Day events across the United States - see here - and Labour Day events across Canada - see here. We hope you can join one to speak up for working people.
While we are a secular organization, we'd like to share some prayers/poems concerning workers' rights that might resonate as we approach Labor Day.
The Dignity of Labor, a prayer for Labor Day, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951), original and a slightly edited version.
Prayer for Workers in a Time of Pandemic, by Rabbi Michael Rothbaum (he wrote it while active within the New England Jewish Labor Committee, in 2020, it is still relevant today.)
And there are of course the many poems of Morris Rosenfeld! See here and here.